New Firearms Legislation to Be Amended to Attract More Guilty Pleas

The Government is moving to amend sections of the new firearms legislation to drive higher rates of guilty pleas.

Minister of Justice, Hon. Delroy Chuck, provided an update while responding to comments by Attorney-at-law, Peter Champagnie, KC, regarding the statutory mandatory minimum under the Firearms Act, during the CCJ Academy for Law regional townhall at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, on Thursday (November 14).

The hybrid session focused on advancing justice in the Caribbean, post Needham’s Point Declaration.

Mr. Champagnie had suggested that the statutory mandatory minimum under the Firearms Act is not an incentive to plead guilty, noting that this aspect of the legislation needed to be revisited in short order.

“In fact, it is now creating a measure of backlog in the Gun Court, because a typical accused person, when you go to them, they’ll ask ‘what is going to be the penalty if I’m found guilty?’… and we say, a minimum 15 years; ‘what is it if I plead guilty, what will it be’, and you say 15 years, they’d say, ‘I’ll take my chances at trial’, and so begins the backlog. So I think we need to revisit that aspect of the legislation in short order,” he said.

In response, Minister Chuck indicated that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Judiciary have asked the Government to look at it.

“It is being revised. So that is being adjusted. I must admit, I thought it would have been done long ago,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Jeremy Taylor, KC, informed that the Court of Appeal is convening a panel of nine judges to look at the mandatory minimum sentencing under the new Firearms Act.

The Act represents one of the advancements made by the Government to tackle the scourge of crime and gun-related violence in the society.

It creates a regime that prohibits weapons (certain firearms and ammunition) and activities relating to prohibited weapons.

Additionally, it strengthens the penalties for offences relating to prohibited weapons and activities.

The Needham’s Point Declaration follows six themes and contains 39 recommendations for the reform of the criminal justice system in the Caribbean.

It was adopted on October 20, 2023, in the Republic of Barbados as part of the 7th Biennial Conference of the CCJ Academy for Law.